Intellectual property dream

[semperfiona]

I was shopping with Tammie at a little boutique giftshop. We found a series of prints of art collages with flowers--and some of my old writings from highschool. My name was even on the pages. Even though I had actually thrown away these documents (in the dream, anyway), I felt I should be getting some recompense for their use, that the artist's use was far beyond "fair use" of them. So I confronted the store owner to get the artist's name, and found out she had a studio upstairs in the very same mall. Tammie and I went up to her studio, which was full of students, and I asked "Do you have some time to discuss a legal matter?" She looked horrified. Then I asked her about the papers. She said, "Aren't they all in public domain?" I said, "Remains to be seen. Did you try to find the owner?" She said, "You'll be disappointed. She died in 1882." Um, no. "No," I said, "she's sitting right here, very much alive." I told her, though, that I wasn't interested in stopping her from selling her art, I just felt I should have a share of the income, having been the creator of part of the content.

Comments

[jilly-bear.livejournal.com]

Hmmm something come to visit you from a past life?

[niemandofchaos.livejournal.com]

I routinely make a habit of putting a copyright notice on my stuff. It's easier nowadays with word processors to remember to do this. Some of the copyright laws have changed recently, so that there is an automatic personal copyright on personal writings after a certain date, but actually including the appropriate copyright statement helps insure that someone can't mistakenly claim that they thought is was fair-use or in the public domain. The best copyright protection is provided by actually registering the piece with the Library of Congress, but I think that there is a cost associated.

If you want to know more, I can try to find some of the links that I bookmarked when I was trying to insure that certain of my works were at least minimally protected. I'm mostly interested in the subject because of some of the bits I've written for Amberzine and certain other creative pieces. I'm generally pretty understanding about people copying for personal use, but I feel the same way about people making money off of my work without paying me for it.

If I recall correctly, you sometimes appreciate food-porn. If you're interested, I can drop you a copy of an as-yet-unpublished food-porn piece that is still in process. Given your personal sexual inclinations, you might appreciate it more than many others would.

If you're not in a hurry for the info, you can drop me a note at the email attached to my LiveJournal. If you'd like a more timely response, I believe that you have my work email.